HowardForums is a discussion board dedicated to mobile phones with over 1,000,000 members and growing!

For your convenience HowardForums is divided into 7 main sections; marketplace, phone manufacturers, carriers, smartphones/PDAs, general phone discussion, buy sell trade and general discussions. Just scroll down to see them!

Only registered members may post questions, contact other members or search our database of over 8 million posts. Why don't you join us today!

What's the difference between SMS and text messages?

I thought that they were the same. On my Beyond Talk plan, I've not been billed for text messages. But, I just noticed a charge for 15 cents listed in my phone activity for an SMS message. It was to a US phone number. I was probably replying to a message that I received. However, I didn't think that it was billable as a U.S. SMS message. Isn't SMS and TEXT the same?

SMS is multimedia message (picture, sound) and text is just a plain text message. You should not be charged for any of those since in Beyond plan is included, there is something wrong with VM system that will charge you for things you are not supposed to pay, it sucks I know. VM still not fix this problem and it has been a while, I had the same problem before. What you need to do is call VM customer service and ask for your money back (I hate calling them)

SMS is multimedia message (picture, sound) and text is just a plain text message. You should not be charged for any of those since in Beyond plan is included, there is something wrong with VM system that will charge you for things you are not supposed to pay, it sucks I know. VM still not fix this problem and it has been a while, I had the same problem before. What you need to do is call VM customer service and ask for your money back (I hate calling them)

An sms stands for short messaging service---aka text mess. Where a MMS stands for mult.media message ---aka pic message -- but ya if your on the beyond plan call vm and get ur money back

I had the same .15 charges yesterday. In total 20 of them. I called VM when I saw the first 10 and then called this morning when I saw the 2nd 10. CS credited immediately $1.50 each time. My service representatives were in Nicaragua last night and the Philippines this morning.

Yesterday was the first time my $25 plan was renewed. Perhaps I should have had the money available on the 14th of Dec instead of on the 15th. I will try that in Jan and see if the problem happends again.

I had the same .15 charges yesterday. In total 20 of them. I called VM when I saw the first 10 and then called this morning when I saw the 2nd 10. CS credited immediately $1.50 each time. My service representatives were in Nicaragua last night and the Philippines this morning.

Yesterday was the first time my $25 plan was renewed. Perhaps I should have had the money available on the 14th of Dec instead of on the 15th. I will try that in Jan and see if the problem happends again.

The Beyond Talk plans are not renewing properly for some people; the $0.15 charge is the pay-as-you-go text message charge.

For all practical purposes, "SMS", "SMS message", and "text message" are all the same thing.
MMS is the longer, media-based (picture/music/etc) message.

Fifteen-cent charges are known to occur when VM doesn't renew your account when they're supposed to. They deduct for texts because, in their opinion, you never decided to switch to a new month and went straight to pay-as-you-go. It's their fault, not yours, and if CS was wise enough they'd help you back on your feet ASAP if you told them about the issue.

Had the same issue today. Got a text from the virgins at 3AM that my acct was $.15 short and they couldn't renew today for the upcoming month. Called them up, they apologized, and put a $1.00 credit on my acct, thereby allowing the month's renewal.

I know that lots of folks complain about VM's customer service, but that has NOT been my experience at all.